Samrådets utveckling vid MKB, utifrån MB i samordning till PBL

by Thörn, Camilla

Abstract (Summary)

The purpose of environmental impact assessments (EIA) is to increase the consideration for environmental matters and management of resources in the decision-making through a regulated process of consultation, irrespective of whether they are about projects of environmentally hazardous activities and water activities or plans of physical planning (land planning of natural and agricultural landscapes). The clarifcation of consultation in the environmental code connected to Legislation the planning and building Act, as well as its practical application in cases of significant impact, has catched my interest in environmental policy. The consultation should enable insight and influence from the ones particularly concerned, as well as the public and other actors that are to strive toward a sustainable development alongside the developer. Through systematically retrieving data from literature, practical application by authorities, and case studies, several important problems have been discerned in the consultations since the environmental code was introduced. The intention is to augment the public's insight and influence in the process by means of clarificationed in the environmental code, which is connected to the Legislation the planning and building act and the regulation of environmental impact assessment since 2004/ 2005.The clarification involves that concerns should be entered on an early stage, for instance already in stages where location and design are surveyed, and be included in the basic data for decision-making during the entire process up to a decision. Above all, it is important that standpoints are observed before projects and plans are fully developed, in order for proposed locations to be changed to alternative locations before the proceedings become too lengthy and the costs unreasonably high.The consultation-related problems may also be solved by creating a democratic collaboration from the start through planned communication planning. This will provide the conditions for a constructive and durable dialogue between different interested parties in the process and favour the environmental concerns, as well as saving costs up to the decision. In Legslation the planning and building Act, it is important to already in ”program consultation” discuss if the implementation of the plan may entail significant impact, in order for the consultations about EIA and plan to take place in a context in ”the plan consultation”. This makes it easier for interested parties in the consultation to understand the significance of the interference with the environment from the start, and thus counteracts conflicts. What has been found in the case studies by EIA:s from the time after the alteration of consultation, is that the wider stakeholder analysis is introduced earlier and that they have a clearer process and a shorter decision-making timeframe. In some project–EIA:s, however, the application made by the authorities is not fully clear in the environmental assessment process. This may entail that different interested parties in the consultation will not come in from the start, and/or that the project will not receive the environmental assessment process that is necessary. The actual consequences of the fact that environmental impact are being made visible through follow-up of the consultation and environmental impact in the EIA, is that the experiences are returned to monitoring and that the need of additional measures may be detected.